diff --git a/Common/DefaultOptions.h b/Common/DefaultOptions.h
index 351ed904fa8a7bf46667719be9784c40b07c8567..a7d5e68d6f7136e67229ba8fe5233f9483899ed1 100644
--- a/Common/DefaultOptions.h
+++ b/Common/DefaultOptions.h
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ StringXNumber GeneralOptions_Number[] = {
     "Number of tics on the Y-axis" },
   { F|O, "AxesTicsZ" , opt_general_axes_tics2 , 5. ,
     "Number of tics on the Z-axis" },
-  { F|O, "BackgroundGradient" , opt_general_background_gradient , 0. ,
+  { F|O, "BackgroundGradient" , opt_general_background_gradient , 1. ,
     "Draw background gradient (0=none, 1=vertical, 2=horizontal, 3=radial)" },
   { F,   "Clip0" , opt_general_clip0 , 0. ,
     "Enable clipping plane 0 (Geometry=2^0, Mesh=2^1, View[i]=2^(2+i))" },